


Dead Eyes

by Zoey1206



Category: Original Work
Genre: Abuse, Child Abuse
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-11
Updated: 2020-04-30
Packaged: 2020-12-12 04:41:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,066
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20983133
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zoey1206/pseuds/Zoey1206
Summary: Yet he felt drawn to the little cemetery, as if it was important to him. So with the dread still growing he opened the creaky old gate.  Once inside, he took slow, careful, steps around the cemetery. He let his instincts tell him where to go, and finally, he arrived at a small tombstone. It had one sentence, and he finally realized where his dread was coming from. Written on the tombstone was, “Here lies ….. ….., he took his own life too soon. 2000-2018” and the boy froze, panic and confusion consuming him, as he realized the tombstone was his own.Cross posted on Wattpad with same name.





	1. Prologue

The boy walked down the lonely streets, the vicious words his mother had Screamed at him echoing in the back of his mind. He let out a tired breath, trying, desperately, to think of something, anything else. He tried thinking of his little sisters, probably at home, waiting for him to come home so they could all eat dinner together, or maybe they were out, sitting in some park waiting for their big brother to come and take them home and tuck them into bed. Still his mind trailed back to his mother's face, red with anger, spit flying out of her mouth as she screamed, probably loud enough to wake their neighbors.

He turned his head at the sound of a desperate voice, begging for attention. As it turned out, the thing that caught his attention, and finally turning his head away from that horrible red face, was a shopkeeper desperately trying to get more customers for his failing business. Upon looking at the man, he noticed how the man looked to be middle aged, he was holding a small toddler, she was maybe two or three years old. The baby let out a whine, a warning for the sobs to come. Maybe she was hungry, or maybe she just wanted her mom to come and hold and comfort her.

Still her father let out a panicked sigh, how was he possibly going to attract customers if he had a crying baby on his hip? The boy noticed, just how tired the man really looked, bags under his bloodshot eyes, his hair and clothes disheveled. The boy found himself relating to the man, he felt so, so tired as well, he decided to take pity on the man, and crossed the street, heading into the store. Even as he passed the man, he seemed to take notice to his new customer, probably in days, and continued his attempts at getting more customers.

The boys exhausted, almost dead like, eyes searched around the store, looking for some random item to buy. Maybe he could get something for his siblings, they would probably like a new toy to play with, or some candy for dessert. Just as he found a cute little surprise toy, his phone went off when he reached down to grab it. He huffed, there wasn't really anyone who would want to call him now, there was only one person. Still though, he pulled the old, run down phone out of his pocket. Upon looking at the contact, he huffed again, as expected, his mother's contact showed.

Briefly, the boy thought of ignoring the call. But Mother was already angry, if he ignored this call... a shiver ran down his spine at the thought. He swiped the accept button up before the phone could ring again. "Hello, Mother." He kept his greeting short, making sure to lower his voice. Mother hated his voice, always saying it was too loud, high pitched, and annoying. His voice came out scratchy, and caused his throat to hurt; he never really talked much, especially around mother, but he should probably try to talk more, so he could avoid any potential irreparable damage being done.

The only response was muffled sounds and heavy breathing on the other line. A confused down replaced his blank expression he usually has, when not with his sisters. Mother was always quick to get her point across, impatient in everything she did. She would usually just bark out her orders before hanging up , not giving the boy a chance to respond.

Finally, he heard a voice come through, through the confusion didn't leave his face, this wasn't Mother's voice. The voice belonged to a young child, maybe five, maybe eight years old. The boys stomach dropped as he realized the voice was his youngest sister, Lilly's, voice. He listened as she sobbed through the phone, hysterical, begging him to come get. To save her from the monster coming to hurt her. He tried to calm her down, to reassure her that she would be okay, and that he was coming. But she wouldn't listen only continuing her pleas, promising to be a good girl, saying she would even eat her broccoli if he came to save her. Finally, the line went dead, and dread filled the boy as he turned away from the toy, he had to save Lilly.

He exited the store passing the poor store owner. He ignored the little toddler, now sobbing, instead of the little whine she was letting out earlier, as she pointed at him. He ignored the father's confused face as he also turned to look in the direction of the thin teen, his eyes roamed the area before he turned back to the toddler. He ignored the dread that grew and grew the further he walked down the road towards his house.

Once a cemetery appeared in his vision, instead of his familiar old house, confusion once again, began to mingle with the ever growing dread. Yet he felt drawn to the little cemetery, as if it was important to him. So with the dread still growing he opened the creaky old gate.

Once inside, he took slow, careful, steps around the cemetery. He let his instincts tell him where to go, and finally, he arrived at a small tombstone. It had one sentence, and he finally realized where his dread was coming from. Written on the tombstone was, "Here lies ..... ....., he took his own life too soon. 2000-2018" and the boy froze, panic and confusion consuming him, as he realized the tombstone was his own. He began to walk away, he needed to get home, maybe find some answers, and help Lilly.

But as he exited the cemetery, his memory fades. He found himself walking down the lonely streets, the viscous words his mother yelled at him repeating in his mind. He let out a tired breath, desperately trying to think of something, anything else. Yet his mind kept coming back to his mother's angry red face, and her even angrier words. He heard a man's voice desperately trying to attract customers, and a babies whines, and turned to look, maybe even go in and buy something for his younger sisters. Dread slowly filling him, as he took a look at the man with the baby on his hip.


	2. Chapter one: December, 2016

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which we meet our mighty protagonist, and he simply tries his best to survive the day and make his sisters happy.

A small boy sat on the porch of his house. The steps only halfway staying up, it was on it’s last few years, it’s been too long since dad last fixed it. He shivered, snow falling down onto his hair, a breath escaped him, creating a cloud of fog as his warm breath met with the cold air.

He turned towards the soft pitter-patter of footsteps coming towards him from his house, Alice, his younger sister who was seven, soon to be eight, was running towards him. He let out a small smile, bringing her into his lap, and pulling the oversized sweater he had on over her head, sharing it with her, it would be horrible if she ended up getting sick.

The sweater was thin, and much too big for either child, but it had been a gift from their father to the boy, before he died. It was his last gift to his only son, it was also the only source of warmth the boy had.

Alice turned towards her brother, a goofy smile on her face, “It’s almost your birthday! We should go to the park and play!” Her words came out a little messed up, but she still got her message through. It was true, his sixteenth birthday was coming up, though he wasn’t nearly as excited as Alice appeared to be, her excitement still made his heart melt.

It was unlikely that he would get anything other than a drawing from his siblings though, Mother likely wouldn’t get him anything. If he was lucky, he might get some money from her, maybe even ten-fifteen dollars. He could spend it on a nice dinner, get his sisters’ favorites. He would have to spend it quickly, or hide it, Mother would likely steal it and spend it on cigarettes, or booze if he didn’t.

Both siblings flinched at the sound of a crash, quickly followed by sobs. Dread filled the boy, Mother must have gotten angry and took it out on his other sister, Lilly, who is five years old, again. “Reece, get your ass in here now!” the siblings’ mother ordered. Alice was removed from the sweater, as well as his lap, as he took hold of her small hand and entered the house that coupled as a prison for the children. 

Taking slow and cautious steps, Reece pushed Alice towards the kitchen once inside the house, while he himself went into the living room, where mother was bound to be. She stood in the middle of the room, her face tomato red, steam basically coming out of her ears. Lilly was on the floor, in the process of picking herself up. Reece’s eyes trailed over to the angry red mark on her cheek, her quiet sobs filled the otherwise silent room. 

Mother scowled at her son, an empty packet of cigarettes in her hand, she had probably recently finished them. She reached out to grab the shaking boys hair, dragging him further into the room. He stumbled after her, trying to keep pace with the stomping women.

“You stole my last cigarettes, haven't you, you little rat?” She shook her hand holding his curly hair, on top of being out of cigarettes, she likely also ran out of money, and chose to place the blame on poor Reece. “I knew you were sneaking behind my back, but decided to be nice and let it go. But this is my last straw, if I don’t get my money or cigarettes back, you’ll soon be joining your father in the grave!” she was probably drunk, evidence in her slurred words. 

He let out a small sob right as she landed a hard slap on his back, right where he already had a bruise from where she pushed him into the counter in another fit of rage. Mother was smart, and made sure to leave her marks on places unseen, he had school tomorrow. She was less cautious with Lilly since she was transferring from preschool to kindergarten, and Mother had yet to complete enrolling her.

Reece’s hands flew up to his hair, hoping to lessen the pain. “I didn’t do anything, I promise! Please let go, it hurts.” He tried to state his case, words jumbled and rushed from the speed of his speaking, and his voice shook. He knew there was little chance of his words changing her mind, he still tried. Mother ignored his pleas and only tightened her grip and kicked him in the shin, clearly not wanting to listen. He whimpered, “I’ll give you money, please let go!” He gave in fearing if mother continued to simmer in her anger, she might get her studded belt out. 

Once released, he quickly ran into his room he shared with his sisters. After digging under his bed, he pulled out the shoe box he kept the money he managed to save up in. (The shoe box used to be a piggy bank, the girls’ idea, but Mother always found and broke them. It’s easier to move and hide the box.) He pulled out five dollar bills and ran back to the living room quickly; Mother was still angry, he couldn’t leave the girls with her for too long. Reece handed her the five dollar bills, he hoped she would be satisfied with this, the kids couldn’t afford to give her any more, they still had to buy clothes and food, and the occasional bill if mother can’t find a boy toy to pay them for her. 

She gave the boy a dirty look as she snatched the money, before turning to it so she could count it. Reece gave her multiple bills so that it would seem like more money than if she only had one bill. The trick seemed to work, because Mother gave a satisfied hum, and shoved the money back into the boys small hands; Reece knew he had always been naturally smaller than most boys his age, but he was even smaller because of malnourishment, his sisters suffering the same fate, though to a lesser extent since Reece made sure to try his best to feed them.

“Go out there and get my cigs, I expect to see the receipt and get my exact change. Be home quick, I don’t want police or other people getting nosy.” Reece uttered a quick “yes ma’am,” and scurried out of the house. His sisters chased after him, not wanting to stay home, Alice grabbed Reece’s hand with her right hand, and held Lilly’s with her left. With that, the three siblings started their journey to the old shop.

Reece made eye contact with the shop owner once they arrived. The owner was a middle aged man, who had a big smile on his face, and waved goodbye to the leaving customer before turning to greet the trio. Alice let go of her siblings hands and skipped over to the man, he would sometimes watch over the girls when Reece was at school or at work, so they were quite familiar. The two began to chatter excitedly; The man’s wife had just given birth to a healthy baby girl named Jessica, They have been enjoying their experience of parenthood so far. 

Once noticing that her sister was no longer holding her hand, Lilly reached out to grab her brother’s. Said brother hurried over to buy cigarettes, the shopkeeper thankfully ignored their being underage and simply rung up the item, giving them $1.50 as change. The man tended to charge the siblings less for things since they were close to each other. He made conversation as he wrung them up, due to the new baby, even if business was going pretty well now, he would be trying to gain as many customers and money as he could.

Alice grabbed her siblings hands again, and Lilly waved goodbye to the shop owner, and the siblings turned to walk back home. Upon looking at the receipt, Reece noticed the shop owner had wrote that the cigarettes were five dollars, Reece could keep the change without his mother finding out.While they walked home Alice filled the silence with stories about school, and her new friend. While Alice talked the two other siblings stuck to just listening, adding in responses or hums when needed. Lilly had grown to be just as quiet as her brother, since she had been used to the quiet mother enforced on them since all she could remember, Alice however still remembered the moments when they were happy, before Dad had died. Reece simply learned to be quieter after so many beating because he was “too loud.” 

The siblings hesitated in front of their porch, the cold causing them to shiver, and their teeth to chatter, yet they were still unwilling to enter the likely warmer house. The house with mother, who could snap at any moment. Even so, Mother would be even angrier if someone became suspicious as to why the siblings were standing outside their house. So Reece ushered his siblings into the house, hoping for a peaceful rest of the night.

The girls ran into their room and Reece mustered up his courage and entered the living room. There, on the couch, was his mother, drinking some kind of alcohol. The boy honestly didn’t know, nor have the desire too. (He only memorized the cheapest kinds, for when mother sent him to get her some.)

She was watching some show, something about cops (the irony was lost to her, but not to Reece, he almost wanted to laugh, maybe cry, maybe scream.) on their old box-like t.v She turned her head at the sound of footsteps and reached her hand out. Reece scurried over and dropped the cigarettes and recite into her awaiting hand. He made sure to keep his head down and avoid eye contact, mother found it disrespectful to look her in the eye.

The women scoffed at the boy, before opening the box and taking one out and lighting it. A relieved sigh escaped her lips, and she looked over the receipt , disappointment showing in her eyes, she wouldn’t get anymore money. She stumbled over to the kitchen, probably in search of food, or to cook. Reece would try to make food for the girls when she left or went to be. He would have to wait until Mother was out of the picture, so she wouldn’t see it as rude, and become angry if they ate their own food on the off chance she did cook.

Mother did, infact cook; peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, a dinner that Reece was not allowed to eat. She explained it was because he was a dirty thief, so he didn’t deserve to eat. The boy simply sat at the table and watched the other eat in silence, ignoring his own growling stomach. The girls kept quiet, not wanting Mother’s attention, she wore an angry expression the whole dinner, likely still angry because of the “theft.”

Finally, she cleared her throat, “You didn’t really think you could steal from me and get away with it, did you?” With that said, she launched across the table at Reece, in turn, he grabbed his sisters’ hands and bolted. It would be too risky to leave the girls with mother, she might use them as bait to get the to come out, or she might turn on them and take her anger out on them.

The trio ran into their room, Reece managing to close the bedroom door and lock it right before Mother ran in after them. He held his sisters as they sobbed and whimpered, clinging to the brother. The sound of mother banging and screaming across the door adding to the chaotic sounds inhabiting the house. Eventually, the three siblings fell asleep to the angry curses being shouted at them. Reece forgetting his plans of cooking a better meal for his sisters in the chaos. The grumbling of his own stomach being forgotten in his mind.


End file.
